The invention relates to detection and imaging, and more particularly to systems and methods for detection and imaging of one or more samples.
In bio-sensing applications, such as drug discovery and proteomics research, a detection process starts with screening a vast number (a few thousands) of candidates in the form of ligand-receptor or protein-protein interactions that need to be rapidly examined. The screening of the candidates is generally carried out by detection systems that are suitable for high throughput operations, or by configuring a detection system such that it is suitable for high throughput operations. Subsequent to the screening step which is performed at a moderate resolution, a different detection system or detection configuration may be used for a low throughput and high resolution detection. The low throughput and high resolution detection may be used to perform detailed and relatively more reliable detection. Among other changes, reconfiguration of the detection systems may comprise changing one or more components of the system, such as a sensor chip on which the samples are disposed, a fluidic chip that supplies samples to the sensor chip, an optical arrangement of the system, or a detector. Reconfiguration of the system from the low to high resolution may provide enhanced analysis results, however, the reconfiguration of the system results in expensive and time consuming analysis. For example, in some instances switching the resolution may require switching between two or more detection systems. Switching between the two or more detection systems may be time consuming and expensive. In other instances, switching the resolution may require reconfiguration within the detection system. The reconfiguration of the system may be labor intensive, time consuming and expensive.
Therefore, it is desirable to have time efficient and cost effective systems and methods for analysis of one or more samples, where the systems may be configured to operate at high throughput and low throughput modes, and where the systems may be configured to efficiently switch between the high and low resolution modes.